i bought a heatless curling rod on etsy, and then i used it!
my hair is fantastic. i appreciate it and love it every day, except the day before my period when i hate everything about myself! i use some hair products here and there, but i attribute its beauty purely to genetics and avoiding heat; i often fall asleep with slightly damp hair.
here's how it normally looks:
while fantastic, it certainly has changed over the past year and a half: it's gotten long, and it's gotten grayer. the pretty dramatic change started occurring during an anticipated but still pretty traumatic withdrawal from cabergoline in 2019. that withdrawal was also the trigger of the start of my sobriety but ANYWAY...
i've been starting to experiment with different hair styles and tools to see what will work with my new (old?) hair. it's still thick and holds a curl if i need it to, but the ends often have a life of their own which i do not think they deserve. i find myself once a week needing to bring out the flat iron to tame some strands and There's Got To Be A Better (heatless) Way™.
a couple of weeks ago, i was playing my favorite sport, "being high and on etsy on pay day" and "won" a satin heatless curling rod set. i wanted to see if it would bring some order to my ends without the heat and – spoiler alert – it did. let me show you this thing:
these curling rods have grown in popularity on social media, so lots of folks are selling them. but i can tell you the ones i got were high quality, although i have only used them once - but sometimes you can just tell! how it works is that you take damp hair and wrap it away from your face over the rod, as if you were making a french braid. then you keep it in place with scrunchies, sleep with it on, and wake up in the morning with effortless, beautiful, curls.
in the photo above you'll see me with dry hair in need of a shampooing, and then what i look like with wet hair. if i remember to, i'll often put on some kind of wave-defining cream and then let the fresh, clean air by the holland tunnel do its magic. and on the right is me with the curling rod "installed" and looking sassy because the edible was just about to hit.
i was expecting to not be able to sleep with this thing on my head, as i'm a side-sleeper, but it gave me absolutely no problem at all! above, you'll see me first thing in the morning, then with it removed but the two long curls are untouched. finally, i fluffed my hair out and it came out much nicer than i expected it to. this was great, because i was about to head out to meet up with some girlfriends.
outfit check: tea towel on the floor by areaware x susan kare
a few days ago it was 90 degrees fahrenheit and sunny outside, but today it was rainy and under 50 degrees. how am i supposed to keep up with that? had i known it was going to be shit weather, i would have saved my heatless curling experiment for another day. fortunately, the hair held up super well. here i am after about 7 hours of being out, and i only touched the ends up with some argan oil once:
if this kind of look is your style, i highly recommend this heatless curling rod. i'm going to experiment with tighter and looser curls to find what works best for me. the look is definitely a bit conventional for my taste, but i can definitely see myself using this the night before an event where i could stand to have a less chaotic look.
it will be interesting to see how the curls hold up through the night! follow this thread on twitter for updates as i document the passage of time's effect on the curls throughout the long weekend.
xoxo jenn
